A manifold assembly for use in a compressor having a compression chamber for compressing a fluid is disclosed. More specifically, a manifold assembly including a baffle for eliminating acoustic resonance is disclosed.
Vehicle air-conditioning systems include a compressor that compresses and superheats refrigerant. The refrigerant exits the compressor and continues first to a condenser and then to an expander. From the expander, the refrigerant enters an evaporator and then returns to the compressor to begin the cycle again. The air-conditioning system will include either an accumulator/dehydrator (A/D) or a receiver/dehydrator (RID). The purpose of these devices is to remove moisture from the refrigerant and to store the reserve charge of the system until it is needed upon demand.
Generally, the compressor is a belt-driven pump that includes a compression chamber and a manifold assembly comprising a housing, an intake port and an exhaust port. The housing further defines a suction chamber and a discharge chamber. The intake port guides the refrigerant from the evaporator to the suction chamber. The suction chamber subsequently guides the refrigerant from the intake port to the compression chamber where it is compressed. The compressed refrigerant is received in the discharge chamber and from the discharge chamber the refrigerant is exhausted to the exhaust port. The refrigerant is then guided from the exhaust port to the condenser to begin the cycle again.
Prior art manifolds contribute to noise problems resulting from acoustic resonance created in the discharge chamber of the manifold assembly. The acoustic resonance occurs in the refrigerant medium because the frequency, and hence the wavelength of the sound waves in the manifold assembly coincides with the discharge chamber dimensions (wavelength is a function of pressure and temperature of the refrigerant). The acoustic resonance is dependent on a volume of the discharge chamber and effective path lengths of the discharge chamber. The effective path lengths are the continuous, unobstructed paths available for sound waves to travel in the discharge chamber. Prior art manifold assemblies attempt to reduce the effective path lengths and the volume of the discharge chamber by providing a baffle that obstructs the refrigerant flow after the refrigerant has been compressed in the compression chamber.
The aforementioned baffles are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,150 to Brown. The baffles of the ""150 patent to Brown impede the flow of the gas by reducing the cross-sectional area of the flow path, resulting in decoupling of the waves. The manifold assembly of the ""150 patent to Brown acts to continuously reroute the air after the air has been compressed. The manifold assembly described in the ""150 patent is a description of a reactive type of muffler assembly. The purpose of this assembly is to reduce the acoustic waves by cancellation. As a result, an undesirable loss in pressure from the compression chamber to the exhaust port is realized. The loss in pressure from the compression chamber to the exhaust port results in an inefficiently performing air-conditioning system. Therefore, a need exists to develop a manifold assembly having a baffle to effectively reduce the effective path lengths and as such, provide a discharge chamber that is in operative communication with both the exhaust port and the compression chamber. The resulting manifold assembly would minimize the loss in pressure from the compression chamber to the exhaust port and reduce or eliminate the acoustic resonance in the discharge chamber.
A manifold assembly for use in a compressor having a compression chamber for compressing a refrigerant is disclosed. The manifold assembly includes an intake port, an exhaust port and a housing coupled to the intake port and the exhaust port. The housing includes an outer wall and at least one inner wall. The outer wall and the inner wall define a suction chamber for guiding the refrigerant from the intake port to the compression chamber. Furthermore, the outer wall and the inner wall define a discharge chamber for guiding the refrigerant from the compression chamber to the exhaust port. A baffle is also connected to the housing. The baffle defines a first fluid cavity for receiving the refrigerant from the compression chamber and an exit cavity for guiding the refrigerant from the discharge chamber to the exhaust port. The first fluid cavity and the exit cavity are in operative communication with each other and the compression chamber and the exit cavity is in operative communication with the exhaust port. The baffle eliminates specific acoustic resonance of the refrigerant in the discharge chamber.
The manifold assembly for use in the compressor including the compression chamber and a first piston and a second piston within the compression chamber for compressing the refrigerant is also disclosed. The first piston compresses the refrigerant in the first fluid cavity and the second piston compresses the refrigerant in the exit cavity.
An air-conditioning system for circulating the refrigerant to remove heat from an interior of a vehicle is also disclosed. The air-conditioning system includes an evaporator for transferring the heat from the interior of the vehicle to the refrigerant and a condenser in fluid communication with the evaporator for cooling and condensing the refrigerant. The air-conditioning system also includes the compressor comprising the intake port, the exhaust port, the compression chamber and the housing as described above. The compressor is in fluid communication with the evaporator and the condenser to receive the refrigerant from the evaporator, compressing the refrigerant in the compression chamber, and pump the refrigerant to the condenser.
Accordingly, the advantage of the subject invention described above is the ability of the subject invention to effectively reduce the effective path lengths and to prevent the formation of acoustic resonances by the limiting the discharge chamber dimensions. More specifically, the subject invention provides a discharge chamber that is in operative communication with both the exhaust port and the compression chamber. The result is a minimization of the loss in pressure from the compression chamber to the exhaust port and a minimization of the acoustic resonance in the discharge chamber.